(Image by NEIVANMADE)
Kupiansk:
The bodies of two women were found under the rubble of this museum in Kupiansk.#RussiaIsATerroristState pic.twitter.com/d7rcGzJONz
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) April 25, 2023
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump:
Every manifestation of Russian terror is an additional argument that everything should end in the Tribunal – address by the President of Ukraine
25 April 2023 – 22:23
Ukrainians! All our partners in the world!
Throughout the day today, the rubble in the city of Kupyansk, Kharkiv region, was being cleared after a Russian attack with S-300 missiles. Attack on an ordinary civilian neighborhood. The terrorists targeted the local history museum and nearby houses. Russia killed two women with this strike. My condolences to the families and friends of the victims… Ten people were wounded, they are being provided with the necessary assistance.
In total, more than 60 museums and galleries in different regions of our country have been destroyed or damaged by the occupier.
Today, a church was destroyed by Russian aircraft in the Kherson region. In the village of Kizomys, Bilozerka community. An Orthodox church… By a guided bomb. That is, the Russian military knew what they were destroying. This church became one of hundreds of churches and prayer houses destroyed by Russian strikes.
Crimea… Today the occupiers broke into the house of Abdureshyt Dzhepparov. He is one of the representatives of the Crimean Tatar national movement, a human rights activist, a citizen of Ukraine. It is unknown where he is now and what his condition is. This is another example of Russian repression against the indigenous people of Crimea, against all our people. There have been thousands and thousands of such examples since the beginning of aggression both in Crimea and in our other regions occupied by Russia.
No one can feel safe anywhere unless the aggressor is defeated. This is what every day in Ukraine proves – everything that the Russian troops and special services of the occupier are doing on our land against our people. And this is what they dream of bringing to the lands of other nations. The whole world knows this.
The world also knows that Russia can be stopped. This is a common interest. Stopped by the might of our warriors on the frontline. By our weapons, both Ukrainian and those we receive from our partners. By the power of law, that is, sanctions that need to be constantly enhanced, and by our joint work for justice. Every manifestation of Russian terror, every day of aggression is an additional argument that all this must end in the Tribunal – in a new Nuremberg against ruscism, against those who destroy lives and people, who use missiles against museums and guided bombs against churches.
Russia must lose. The world cannot have any other goal. For anything else is a defeat of life, a defeat of law, a defeat of the world itself.
Today, our international sanctions group, a group of experts headed by Andriy Yermak and Michael McFaul, presented a document on strengthening sanctions against Russia. The first such sanctions plan was implemented by more than 70%. So now we have presented the areas in which sanctions pressure can be further enhanced and ways to ensure the world greater stability through the complete exclusion of all destructive Russian actors, all those who work for war, from global relations.
This document on sanctions will be on the desks of all the key leaders of the world – political, public, and business leaders. Sanctions against the Russian oil and gas sector, against the nuclear industry, against absolutely anyone who helps Russia circumvent the restrictions already in place. This is a necessary self-defense of the international legal order.
Today, I held a regular meeting of the Staff. Commanders, Commander-in-Chief, intelligence, Ministry of Defense. There were reports on the current situation at the front, on our ability to move actively, and the manning of new units. Today we also talked about Ramstein and further communication with our partners.
I also held a meeting on Ukraine’s economic recovery. Shmyhal, Svyrydenko, Shurma, Kubrakov, Fedorov are our recovery team. They presented the economic strategy for today and for the postwar period. It is already clear that our victory will result in Ukraine’s ability to be a real security provider for all our partners, for everyone in the world who values a rules-based international order. The new security standards that we will implement in our life: in our infrastructure, energy, logistics and communications, social and educational spheres, in our production – all this can be scaled up in other parts of the world.
The same goes for Ukrainian defense systems, our weapons, and the experience of our people gained in confronting Russian terror. All this will work for global peace to ensure that no one in the world will ever repeat Russia’s crimes.
Glory to each of our warriors who are now in combat, at combat posts, on combat missions! Today I would like to celebrate the 80th airborne assault brigade.
Well done, guys! Thank you for your resolve in destroying the occupier in Bakhmut!
Glory to Ukraine!
There is still no operational update from the Ukrainian MOD.
Here’s more from Kupyansk:
russian terrorists launched a missile attack on Kupyansk, Kharkiv region. The city museum suffered the most damage. A woman was killed, and ten people were injured. People are still trapped beneath the rubble. pic.twitter.com/R8YBWUL1Ze
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 25, 2023
Rescuers found the body of the second person killed during the shelling of the local history museum in Kupyansk. pic.twitter.com/Em1YOZpivJ
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 25, 2023
More from Kherson Oblast:
UAVs over Kherson region. Go inside. pic.twitter.com/CDbin57oOd
— NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) April 25, 2023
Bakhmut:
Bakhmut direction. "The video shows the work of the 77th separate air mobile brigade and tactical aviation." Destruction of ammunition depots and Russian positions. https://t.co/CZCQkoAsXq pic.twitter.com/QaBx4p9nxx
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) April 25, 2023
The 3rd Seperate Assault Brigade at work, clearing the approaches to Bakhmut. At least 20 Russians have terminated contracts now. pic.twitter.com/KWZcNp1zQF
— NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) April 25, 2023
"On our side, we're tired. People are exhausted," said a dep battalion commander “Philosopher,” describing how his forces from the 93rd Brigade were coming within just 3 meters of Russian troops in Bakhmut. 📸 Photos and reporting by @AnatoliiStepan4.https://t.co/o0P0RKIUTI https://t.co/exAR3ziLv6
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) April 25, 2023
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has a photojournalistic report posted from Bakhmut with pictures and descriptions. The headline and sub-headline are:
‘We’re Tired’: Ukraine’s Exhausted Forces Hold Their Positions In The Battlefield City Of Bakhmut
As heavy fighting for control of the shattered city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine continues unabated, one Ukrainian unit explains how it is struggling to hold off Moscow’s forces.
DaVinci’s Wolves are on the hunt!
New footage from GONOR unit, part of the Da Vinci Wolves batallion, repelling an enemy assault on the O0506 near Khromove and retaking formerly lost positions.
Repost since my last tweet didn’t include the video anymore after I edited the text. pic.twitter.com/c3vRFY4Wp2
— NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) April 25, 2023
New footage from GONOR unit, part of the Da Vinci Wolves batallion, repelling an enemy assault on the O0506 near Khromove and retaking formerly lost positions.
Repost since my last tweet didn’t include the video anymore after I edited the text. pic.twitter.com/c3vRFY4Wp2
— NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) April 25, 2023
Vuhledar:
Vuhledar.
25 kilometers northwest of my hometown in Donbas. pic.twitter.com/uK6IcqpQQd— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) April 25, 2023
Шокирующие кадры должны увидеть во всем мире. Россия стирает Угледар с лица земли. Авиабомбы крушат многоэтажки, превращая еще один мирный город в новое Алеппо в Европы. Тут под Угледаром была раздавлена 155 бригада Тихоокеанского флота, которую путин прислал убивать украинцев pic.twitter.com/bFij5QAdP9
— Serhiy Leshchenko (@Leshchenkos) April 24, 2023
Here’s the translation of the tweet:
The shocking footage must be seen all over the world. Russia erases Ugledar from the face of the earth. Air bombs destroy high-rise buildings, turning another peaceful city into a new Aleppo in Europe. Here, near Vuhledar, the 155th brigade of the Pacific Fleet, which Putin sent to kill Ukrainians, was crushed
An intercepted call reveals the morale of the Russian troops during the February Vuhledar kamikaze column burning. In this call, the Russian soldier tells his wife that "so many of our boys were burned inside the tanks". Reacting to her question about equipment delivery, he says… pic.twitter.com/HgDMXLliKD
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) April 25, 2023
Here’s the full text of Dmitri’s tweet:
An intercepted call reveals the morale of the Russian troops during the February Vuhledar kamikaze column burning. In this call, the Russian soldier tells his wife that “so many of our boys were burned inside the tanks”. Reacting to her question about equipment delivery, he says it’s all being stolen, and the Donbas people (separatists) are similar to a criminal bandit gang in their dealings.
He also mentions the 70th regiment which was one of the first to enter Ukraine in Feb-Mar last year, the “elite” unit which took enormous casualties and was abandoned by contract soldiers. The regiment is now under the risk of having it banner withdrawn.
Maryinka:
The moscow patriarchate church in Maryinka after the «russian world» came here to pray. pic.twitter.com/0EReZo0eRV
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 25, 2023
Vasylivka, Zaporizhzhia:
Russia goes so bluntly criminal that posts video of buses taking Ukrainian children from occupied Vasylivka, Zaporizhzhia region. This time not to Russia though. But to its partner in crime Belarus. pic.twitter.com/XXLyf13vQQ
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) April 25, 2023
Luhansk:
Reportedly captured in the Luhansk region. Added to the exchange fund. If they are lucky they are part of the upcoming all for all exchange. pic.twitter.com/5n2DwXsGRn
— NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) April 25, 2023
I’m not sure where this battle took place:
56th Separate Mechanised Infantry Brigade of Ukraine stops the advance of Russian column of armored vehicles and infantry. https://t.co/yxjpsoNfIz pic.twitter.com/PPcnvGkrSq
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) April 25, 2023
Here’s the machine translation of the text that accompanies the video at the Facebook link in the tweet above:
This video is just one of the dozens of daily enemy attacks you read about in the morning in the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff’s summary.
A drop in the sea of bloody invasion that is coming to our land…
And we are doing our best to make sure that the enemy lies down in this land!
A master class in jewelry cooperation between infantry, artillery and aerial reconnaissance by Mariupol soldiers!
#Who else but us!
Lots of stuff going boom!
Explosions are reported in the temporarily occupied settlements of Stara Zbur'ivka, Hola Prystan, Kardashynka, Pidlisne, Oleshky and Pishchanivka on the left bank of the Dnipro river. It's getting hot on the occupied territories. pic.twitter.com/WDQz7Nq70Y
— NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) April 25, 2023
Germany’s Rheinmetall just got a big contract:
Rheinmetall has booked an important order for ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles. The Group is supplying a European country with medium-calibre ammunition, with order volume exceeding €200 million net. Shipment is due to take place in 2023-2025.
Rheinmetall is the sole single source supplier of newly made 20mm-35mm ammunition for medium-calibre automatic and antiaircraft cannon of the Marder, Gepard, Puma and similar systems; of 105mm ammunition for the Leopard 1 and 120mm ammunition for the Leopard 2; as well as 155mm artillery shells. Moreover, the Group has the capacity to make large-scale deliveries at short notice.
The Düsseldorf-based tech enterprise is one of the world’s top makers of weapon and ammunition systems. Its product portfolio ranges from medium-calibre ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles and air defence systems right through to aircraft cannon and high-energy laser applications. Rheinmetall is currently building an additional production line for medium-calibre ammunition at its plant in Unterlüß, which will enable it to meet heightened demand for air defence munitions starting this summer.
That’s enough for tonight.
Your daily Patron!
@patron__dsns Просто проходив поруч :) #песпатрон #патрондснс
Here’s the machine translation of the caption:
I was just passing by :) #песпатрон#патрондснс
I’m guessing this has something to do with the cheese.
Open thread!
dmsilev
Los Angeles is a movie town, so fittingly the LA Times brings us the story of Wagner’s propaganda films, which make the Chinese ‘wolf warrior’ series look like deep philosophical ruminations by comparison:
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: Oy vey.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: Pretty much, yeah.
Someone is vying for the ‘understatement of the month’ award.
BR
Tim Mak is no longer at NPR but is going to continue his on the ground reporting in Ukraine:
https://journa.host/@timkmak/110259579675064681
Gin & Tonic
@BR: Thank you for this; I was coming to point out the same thing. Tim Mak is a good reporter with a solid understanding of Ukraine. This is a real loss for NPR.
However, if you are interested, he’s starting a Substack (yes, I know that’s a medium that’s often criticized here) to help cover the not-insignificant expenses of being a war correspondent. It’s only $8/mo, which represents (IMO) a far better value than some other services that charge $8/mo. If you are interested, I bet you’ll have no trouble finding the necessary info.
Gin & Tonic
And a brief note on that Leshchenko Tweet, in case you were confused. “Ugledar” and “Vuhledar” are the same place – the first is the russian transliteration and the second is the Ukrainian. I have no idea why the translation machine would choose two different renditions of the same Cyrillic text, but there you are.
dr. luba
There is no Ukrainian museum small enough or insignificant enough that the Orcs won’t loot or destroy it, given the opportunity.
This is from FB, about the Kupiansk museum director (my translation):
Original here.
Adam L Silverman
@BR: @Gin & Tonic: This thread has all the details and the link:
Adam L Silverman
Ugh!
Baud
@Adam L Silverman:
Are we sure he wasn’t begging Trump to cease fire against him?
Gin & Tonic
@dr. luba: As you know, the targeting of museums and libraries is intentional. Others, I assume, can figure out why.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks for dropping that in here, Adam.
Anonymous At Work
Adam,
Thoughts on Rep. Joe Wilson (You Lie!-SC)’s resolution to support Ukraine until the 1991 borders are restored? Is it a serious effort to force Republicans to show support or go home?
Anoniminous
Ya know since …. 1916? 1917? … it’s been known armor needs accompanying infantry to protect it from things like this.
Can anybody in the Russian Army find their ass with both hands?
zhena gogolia
@Adam L Silverman: Fuck you, you fucking fascist.
(Addressed to Ron, not Adam.)
Lyrebird
@dr. luba: Thank you for sharing that commemoration with us.
For the genocidal side of the invasion plan, wiping out Ukrainian cultural sites? It’s hard to imagine for an outsider, but they keep piling on the evidnce. It’s not just War Criminal Girkin.
Freemark
Many have talked (not as much here) about whether Bakhmut was worth defending since Ukraine had better defensive lines just west of the city. One thing they often don’t talk about is that if Ukraine had retreated Russia may have stopped attacking in that area and moved troops elsewhere. Not only would they have had a propaganda victory it may have made any counter-offensive even more difficult. Hopefully every bit of blood spent here means much less has to be spent elsewhere.
Chetan Murthy
@Anonymous At Work: I’m not gonna pretend that he’s grown a decency organ or anything, but still, damn, these times make for strange, strange bedfellows.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@BR:
Geez, what’s with all these layoffs at media orgs lately? 538 has laid off staff and Nate Silver was let go from ABC
YY_Sima Qian
@dmsilev: I think I have actually seen a video synopsis of Best in Hell made by a Chinese reviewer on Billibilli (Chinese video hosting site). The Wagner troops portrayed in the film are clearly the better trained & equipped (thus much more valued) infiltration units, rather than the convict levies. The Ukrainian troops in the film are actually portrayed as wily, brave, determined & capable. The Wagner troops were almost wiped out by the end, though still managed to achieve their objectives (of course). The action sequences were fairly realistic, production values decently high. Taken completely out of context, I’d say Best in Hell is a decent film, & better than the Wolf Warrior series or Operation Red Sea. (I have not seen the latter films, but I have seen video synopses.) Making the antagonists highly capable & representing real threats to the protagonists is an effective way to elevate the protagonists, something Chinese film/TV making has yet to figure most of the time.
Then, one remembers that the aim of the war they are fighting in (as opposed to the tactical objectives) is not addressed, nor is what their opponents are fighting for. The conflict is portrayed to be a gladiatorial fight to the death, to no one’s entertainment in particular. One also remembers that it is a propaganda product romanticizing a war of naked aggression, lionizing an organization that has carried out horrendous atrocities, on civilians, opposing combatants, & their own convict levies.
As the end scroll indicates, there is a strong death cult vibe to the film (which is also present in Russian or even Soviet made films about the Great Patriotic War). In addition, the few that survived seemed to be stylistically apotheosized to near demi-gods, w/ the subtext being that surviving the crucible of mortal combat make them more worthy, & the further unspoken sub-subtext that the “fat cats” in Kremlin & Russian MOD are not worthy, all of which aligns w/ Proghorzhin’s narrative pretty well. Real Varangian Guard/Starship Troopers vibes. My speculation is that Best in Hell is likely to be effective propaganda w/in Russia.
Geminid
@zhena gogolia: If Ron DeSantis wants to run up a white flag, he should rin one up for his own floundering presidential campaign, not Ukraine.
Gin & Tonic
@YY_Sima Qian: I’m wondering how long Prigozhin can keep this up before going out on the balcony for a smoke.
Cameron
@Geminid: Yeah, he puts bailing out his non-campaign campaign over bailing out Ft. Lauderdale. What a guy!
Anoniminous
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
In two words: audience decline.
People have stopped “consuming” Infotainment Mediums.
Anoniminous
@YY_Sima Qian:
A strong death cult vibe lies at the heart of Western Civilization.
The largest religion in the West worships a torture-to-death device. How sick is that?
YY_Sima Qian
@Anoniminous: Too true!
YY_Sima Qian
@Gin & Tonic: Perhaps Putin himself has been weakened by the debacle of a “cakewalk” invasion turned meat grinder.
Andrya
@Anoniminous: Not sick at all, since we (Christians) are identifying with the tortured, not the torturer(s). The US would have been a hell of a lot better in 2001-2008 if more people had identified with the tortured- some of whom were completely innocent of terrorism.
Manyakitty
@BR: thanks. Subscribed to his substack.
Jay
Jay
Carlo Graziani
@Gin & Tonic: I’ve been wondering about this too. The problem is that the Russian securocracy is too opaque to most media (The Moscow Times still scores an occasional scoop from their sources) to be able to know whether Prigozhin is a reckless fantasist, or whether he has good reasons to behave as he does.
It is interesting to speculate on what might be happening subsurface conditioned on the premise that Prigozhin knows what he’s doing. He’s at war with MoD (despite his temporary alliance with Surovikin), but never critical of Putin. MoD would very likely have him killed and take over Wagner if they thought that could get away with it. But apparently they can’t. So he could be read as a gauge of the distrust between the Kremlin and the military. Yet he’s on a medium-short political leash, as evidenced from his inability to overpower the Mayor of Petersburg.
We’ve noted the parallel before, but all this is very reminiscent of Hitler playing on the deadly rivalries of his underlings to foment discord and doubt among them, for his own fun and profit
ETA: Oh, and whatever happened to Kadyrov? He’s been awfully quiet lately. One warlord down?
Carlo Graziani
@Andrya: Uh, respectfully: sometimes it is identifying with the victims. At other times it’s been inflicting martyrdom as correction for the benefit of sinners’ souls. This was how the Holy Inquisition understood its mission.
Hangö Kex
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
The news media has been in decline since Google & Facebook hijacked most of their advertising revenue. Even if the news media had somehow been able to keep more of the revenue, concentrating the control of it in very few hands would have been bad for their independence, but realistically the result couldn’t really have been other than a matter of survival turned to a massacre.
Andrya
@Carlo Graziani: It’s fair to point out that the Catholic church practiced violence, but it’s factually untrue to say that the cross is worshipping torture. It’s also fair to point out that prior to 1776, all belief systems used violence to enforce their beliefs- and also fair to point out that it was not only theists who did so. The millions murdered by Stalin and Mao can testify to that.
Carlo Graziani
@Andrya: The word “torture” as we use it in the modern age, is too freighted with its modern—and correct—connotations of cruelty, criminality, and transgression against human rights, to furnish a useful context for describing the role that Christ’s crucifixion has played in the ideology of Christianity. At the same time, I can’t agree that an admission that the Church “practiced violence” can somehow be separated from the Crucifixion, or from the Church’s historical understanding of its extremely violent meaning.
The concept of “martyrdom”, and its exemplification by the grisly end to which so many Saints came (ostensibly voluntarily) amounted to a conscious recapitulation of Christ’s own martyrdom. It is of a piece with the infinite value attributed to salvation, and with the explicit contempt for flesh, and for Earthly desires, understood as Satanic temptations. Saints who underwent martyrdoms whose details would elicit strong emotion from modern torturers were valued by the Church precisely for their willing suffering, which assimilated them to their Lord and Savior himself.
My point concerning the Inquisition, which applies just as well to the coercive conversions that the Church carried out from it’s ascension to State Religion status in the Fourth Century A.D. through its cleansing of pagan savages’ souls in the Sixteenth, is that this was not simply random cruelty, borne of frustration of power. It was theologically justified cruelty, directed at saving souls by mortifying the flesh that trapped those souls in Sin; and the explicit theoretical underpinning of that justification was, unapologetically, the Crucifixion.
We are very fortunate that the Modern Age’s eviction of the Church from secular power led, eventually, to a re-evaluation by the Church of the significance of it’s origin story, and to a much gentler interpretation of its moral. But we shouldn’t ignore the history. Crucifixion is one of the most brutal ways of putting a human being to death. And for more than a Millenium, the Church gloried in the awful meaning of that execution.
way2blue
If France doesn’t want Russian & Belarusian athletes competing in the Paris Olympics—can’t they simply refuse to grant visas? What am I missing?
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I don’t know if this has already been covered, but I saw something pop up for me in Forbes about a ball-bearing shortage in Russia, with implications for both tanks and rail-stock.
Torrey
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Perhaps Putin is demanding ALL the ball bearings, as he goes full-on Captain Queeg.
minachica
@Torrey: Lol!
Jay
@way2blue:
they can,……. but they want to push the IOC towards a ban on Ruzzian and Belorussian atheletes, period.
J R in WV
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Can’t build much in the way of munitions W/O ball bearing raceways. Tools to build the tools, to build… and they don’t have much of the starter tools.